Childhood in Crisis: Are Medicine and Psychology Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Abstract

AbstractMedicine and psychology are key disciplines when it comes to childhood, particularly if it is problematized. In this chapter, Reibling, Ariaans, and Hamel argue that both the turn of Western welfare states toward social investment and the resulting new interest in children are paradigmatic examples of the shift toward a biopsychosocial welfare state. Medicine and psychology provide ideas, interventions, and professionals that the welfare state relies on in its aim to invest in children. The authors illustrate this idea via three empirical studies that analyze (1) the public communication of professional organizations, (2) the public’s view on children who experience problems, and (3) the institutionalization of learning disorders in Germany.